When there are three seniors in a lineup like Lilly Sisson, Bailey Wood and Madelyn Bright, it’s easy to rely heavily on that leadership and ride the wave.
Still, Winston Academy girls basketball coach Moe Reed wants more production from the rest of the team as well. It’s why she’s been pushing talented eighth grader Hailey Bradford to be more aggressive in her scoring because of the ability that she possesses.
Bradford responded in a big way this week helping the Lady Patriots to three wins in as many games and she averaged 13.7 points a game.
“I challenged Hailey to look for her shot more and score some points for us,” Reed said. “People don’t realize how good of a shooter she is and she’s been taking a back seat. I told her that I was going to do my best to put her in spots to get her going and she really took off this week. I think that’s really huge for us if we can get her to score. It relieves some pressure off of our seniors who have done the majority of the scoring.”
Bradford and the Lady Pats started the week in MAIS 2-AAA play against Canton Academy. WA got the season sweep of the Lady Panthers as they cruised to a 40-23 win at home. Wood led the scoring with 19 points and Bradford had 14 in the victory that moved them to 4-1 in district play on the year.
They followed that up with a 48-29 win over Columbus Christian where Bradford led the way with 13 points. The seniors were there behind her to make some noise as Wood had 12, Sisson had 11 and Bright 10 for the victory.
The week culminated on Friday night as they destroyed Winona Christian 51-15 on the road capping a 3-0 week. Bright had game-high scoring with 17 points, Bradford had 14, and Wood had 13.
The perfect week moved the Lady Pats to 22-6 on the season as they continue to challenge as one of the best teams in AAA in the state. They’ll put that to the test this week with a huge home schedule on the way.
It began on Tuesday night when WA hosted Starkville Academy. They pulled off a three-point victory in the first meeting and beat the Lady Volunteers for the first time in years and they hoped to have swept them on Tuesday with the final not being decided by press time.
The other big test will be on Friday when WA hosts the district front runners Leake Academy at home. Reed just hopes that they leave it all on the floor and if they do that, they’re going to have a chance to win both games.
“I can really tell that our confidence is going up. We're really playing well right now and we have a tough week ahead,” Reed said. “I’m excited about where we’re at. Confidence goes a long way with the girls. If we play like we’ve been playing, I think we can beat anybody on any given night.”
BOYS
Since the huge Starkville Academy win back at the start of the new year, Winston Academy’s boys have struggled to find their consistency as they lost five-straight games before ending the skid late last week.
It’s been about finishing games for the Patriots who have been in contention with several of those teams including Leake Academy on the road and Canton Academy at home.
The Panthers started off the week for WA last Tuesday and WA was looking to get revenge on Canton for a loss on the road earlier in the year. WA gave up 28 points in the first quarter and trailed by 10 points at halftime which made it tough to overcome as they dropped a 68-54 ball game.
“We came out of the gate strong, but when we cooled off, it seemed like Canton got hotter,” head coach Justin Childs said. “They’re a really good team and just out-executed us.”
Canton hit 57 percent of its shots in the game and scored 28 points off of 24 WA turnovers in the victory.
Collin Mills had 24 points on the night and Nash Vanlandingham had 11 points.
WA had a chance to bounce back on Thursday against Columbus Christian but they couldn’t do it. The Patriots again dug themselves in a bit of a hole in the first half when they fell behind 32-21. They cut the lead to 48-40 heading to the fourth quarter but couldn’t quite get over the hump.
“Hats off to CCA, they shot the ball very well and did enough to ultimately win the game,” Childs said. “They have a legitimate shot of winning the state in their classification.”
Blake Peterson was the leading scorer for the Patriots with 15 and had eight rebounds. Brylee Wall added 14 points in the game and Vanlandingham had 14 rebounds with six points.
After the five-straight losses, the Patriots were finally able to get back on track on Friday night at Winona Christian. WA took a 25-6 lead in the first quarter and never looked back giving up just seven points in the second half and rolling to a 61-25 victory.
“We really needed a game like that to get some energy back,” Childs said. “We had dropped four straight and to play as well as we did really helped get us recharged going into the final home stretch of these seniors’ careers.”
The Patriots held Winona Christian to 15 percent shooting and they scored 34 points in the paint in the win. Mills had 18 points on the night, Peterson had 11 points and six rebounds and Noah Dempsey had 10 points and eight rebounds with four assists. Vanlandingham had 11 rebounds.
Up next for WA (15-11, 1-4) is the two district showdowns this week against Starkville Academy and Leake Academy. Both games are at home.
